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Thursday, November 05, 2015

AFGSC Airmen support largest NATO exercise in 20 years

by Charles Ramey
Air Force Global Strike Command Public Affairs

11/5/2015 - BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. -- Two
B-52 Stratofortresses and aircrews assigned to Air Force Global Strike
Command conducted a long-range bomber mission to the U.S. European
Command area of operations Nov. 3-4, where they participated in Trident
Juncture 2015 - the largest NATO Exercise to be conducted in the past 20
years.

During the non-stop sortie, which lasted approximately 26 hours, the
B-52 aircrews from the 2nd Bomb Wing flew from Barksdale Air Force Base,
Louisiana, to the multinational exercise area of operations where they
executed a show-of-force in Spain, participated in a naval maritime
strike scenario, and conducted a large force integration scenario in
Portugal.

With approximately 36,000 participants from more than 30 Allied and
partner nations, Trident Juncture uses a fictitious training scenario to
assess NATO's agility and ability to meet operational challenges while
responding to global threats to peace and security.

"[Trident Juncture] demonstrates that we can deploy high-readiness
forces from across the alliance in a matter of days," said Gen. Philip
M. Breedlove, Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe (SACEUR) during the
exercise's opening ceremonies at Trapani Air Base, Italy, Oct. 19.
"These multinational forces from Air, Land, Sea and Special Operations
are highly interoperable and have proven capable of conducting complex
military maneuvers across the spectrum of operations."

Participation of a strategic bomber in Trident Juncture highlights the
United States' commitment to NATO Allies and partners and enhancement of
regional security. This most-recent B-52 mission follows a series of
similar partnership activities in the EUCOM AOR. In September, a 2nd
Bomb Wing B-52 Stratofortress aircrew flew from Barksdale Air Force Base
to Postojna, Slovenia, where they worked with Slovenian and U.S. Joint
Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) at a range near the Slovenian town of
Pivka to provide close air support to allied forces during Exercise
Immediate Response.

In June, three Stratofortresses from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota,
deployed to Royal Air Force Fairford, England, where the bombers
trained and integrated with U.S. and allied military forces in the
region during exercises Baltops and Saber Strike. The deployment
followed an April nonstop roundtrip sortie by two Barksdale B-52s from
their home station to the North Sea where aircrews participated in
dissimilar air intercept maneuvers with fighters from the Royal Canadian
Air Force, the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the Royal
Netherlands Air Force.

According to Maj. Gen. Richard Clark, Eighth Air Force commander and the
U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component Command commander
for Global Strike, the participation of B-52 forces in Trident Juncture
demonstrates the ability of America's long-range strike force to quickly
support multinational forces anywhere on the globe.

"Trident Juncture gives us an invaluable opportunity to hone our
warfighting skills. It allows us to integrate with our NATO allies and
to train like we will fight," Clark said. "These missions enhance our
interoperability and teamwork, demonstrate global reach capability of
our bomber force and allow our aircrews to train on the unique demands
of long duration sorties."

The B-52 Stratofortress is a long-range, multirole bomber that can
perform a variety of missions. Through the use of aerial refueling, the
range of a B-52 is limited only by crew endurance. It has an unrefueled
combat range in excess of 8,800 miles.

"Our participation in Trident Juncture allows B-52 aircrew to enhance
their readiness by flying a global strike profile and conducting
operations in unfamiliar airspace," said Capt. Kevin Crawford, 2nd
Operations Support Squadron flight commander for nuclear plans and
operations. "The opportunity to integrate with both U.S. and NATO
forces allows B-52 aircrew to 'practice like we fight' in an
international exercise."